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No Rules

Jul 31, 2024
4 min read

Updated: 2 days ago

⋆ Genre: Retro Funk Pop

Producing Credits: Ollipop

Writing/Composing Credits: Gavin Jones, Ollipop, Ryan Lawrie, 이스란, Yeonjun, danke, Hueningkai, Beomgyu, hitman bang, Taehyun, 조윤경, 1월8일

ABOUT/MEANING: “No Rules” revisits the rebellious desire for freedom expressed in "New Rules," only to discover its unexpected consequences. Where the younger boys wanted to reject expectations and create their own rules, they now find themselves in a world where familiar routines and boundaries have disappeared. The freedom they once imagined as liberating instead leaves them confused, restless and unsure of what they should do next.


This reversal reflects a growing understanding of independence. Rejecting rules is relatively simple when there is an existing structure to rebel against; navigating life without that structure means having to find direction for yourself. As the boys mature, they discover that freedom and uncertainty can therefore arrive together - having fewer restrictions does not necessarily make it easier to know who you are or where you are going.


The song also reflects the disruption of everyday life during the COVID-19 pandemic, when familiar schedules disappeared and days could begin to feel indistinguishable from one another. Within The Chaos Chapter: FREEZE, that loss of structure becomes part of a broader sense that the world no longer operates according to the rules the boys once understood. “New Rules” celebrated the possibility of rewriting them; “No Rules” confronts what happens when suddenly there seem to be no rules at all.

LYRICS - ENGLISH TRANSLATION (translations by @translatingTXT)


Let’s go let’s go

Come and feel my vibe, vibe

Yeah yeah come on

Why is it like this?

I don’t really know either

Quickly wake up, you wake up

(Come my way, come my way, come my way)

I close my eyes again

Continue my dream yeah

It was me who wanted to be a punk

CONNECTION: “No Rules” directly revisits the desire to “be punk” from “New Rules,” where breaking conventions represented freedom and self-determination. Here, the same declaration becomes almost regretful: “It was me who wanted to be a punk - why?” Now experiencing a world in which familiar patterns have broken down, the boy begins questioning the freedom he once imagined would make life easier.

Whether it's my left foot or right

CONNECTION: “New Rules” playfully reversed “left foot, right foot” into “right foot, left foot” as an act of deliberate nonconformity. “No Rules” returns to the same image, but the confidence has disappeared: now the boy is unsure whether it should be his left foot or right. What once represented choosing to move differently from everyone else has become uncertainty about how to move at all.

Whether it's A.M. or P.M.

This broken pattern

Everything's thrown into confusion

What is right? I don’t get it

Woo, my world is panic

(Yeah you know what I like)

The vibe I’ve dreamed of every day

The drive that never stops

One more time yeah

I just wanna dance, dance

Until we can’t

No more

It was me who wanted to be a punk (why)

Why does it feel like I’m about to burst with a pop?

It was me who wanted to be a punk (why)

Oh my oh my

It’s all chaos, all chaos

Yeah it’s so weird

This routine I never wanted

When it’s time to sleep, the alarm rings

Yeah why does that even exist

The extra belly fat is a bonus

There's no more time for spacing out

Yeah, I wanted to be a punk

Ah, have I really become an idiot?

This place trapped within lines

Can you return it to how it was?

CONNECTION: “New Rules” described the boy's life as “trapped between lines,” using those boundaries to represent the rules and expectations he wanted to escape. “No Rules” returns to the image after those boundaries have effectively disappeared, only for him to discover that removing them has not solved his confusion: “Even after the lines are lifted, I still feel insane.” The reversal captures the song's central realisation that freedom from external restrictions does not automatically provide an internal sense of direction.

To a time when there were no rules

I wanna go back

In this game, a diamond

In reality, at the bottom

Hit me like lightning 

 

The vibe I’ve dreamed of every day

The drive that never stops

One more time yeah

I just wanna dance, dance until we can’t

No more

Oh my oh my

It’s all chaos, all chaos

 

It was me who wanted to be a punk (why)

Why does it feel like I’m about to burst with a pop?

It was me who wanted to be a punk (why)

Oh my oh my

I don’t wanna feel this vibe

I’d really like to stop this vibe

I’m getting tired yeah

I don’t wanna dance, dance anymore

No more

 

My life trapped between the lines feels like doom

Even after the lines are lifted, I still feel insane

It was me who wanted to be a punk, why

Oh my oh my

It’s all chaos, all chaos

Doom

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